Little Scarlet Boxes and Emerald Bows
by thebritishone
Summary: It was Christmas Eve 1971; it was the best night of my life; the night that changed my future; the night that made me feel finally safe; the night which I will treasure forever more. One-Shot for the Christmas Prompt Challenge.


**This is my entry for the Christmas prompt challenge. Enjoy!**

**Little Scarlet Boxes and Emerald bows**

It was Christmas Eve 1971 and I was only 17. It was my final year at Hogwarts and I had returned to my family home in London for Christmas. I would have stayed at Hogwarts out of choice but Mother, despite her claims of me being a 'filthy little blood traitor', had insisted that I should return for my older sister's wedding. Bellatrix would be marrying the foul beast that is Roldolphus Lestrange on New Year's Day. The rest of the family had been preparing for months, as the wedding would be the major pureblood event of the season: the eldest Black heir marrying a Lestrange. In my parents eyes this was the perfect pureblood match, in my eyes it was a perfect match between two truly evil people.

I had endured an entire day of forced politeness, not showing my hatred of the Black family once. I'd even managed to resist Bella's taunts despite her best attempts to provoke another anti-pureblood eruption from me. That had happened a few times over the summer, but id learnt to control myself or face the dire consequences. I had scars as a horrific reminder of the last time I had expressed my views.

The festive day had had one upside though: my Aunt Walburga and uncle had come to stay over Christmas; bringing with them my favourite family member, cousin Sirius. It was Sirius first year at Hogwarts and he was only eleven, but already I could see strong signs of him rejecting his parents disgusting opinions of the wizarding world. He had been sorted in to Gryffindor, the only Black ever to have done so; and was bursting to tell me about all he had discovered.

Besides Sirius' bubbly chatting, the only thing that had kept me going was the thought of seeing my darling boyfriend Ted later that night. We had agreed to meet near his house in Somerset. I was to escape the house and apparate to a field near his muggle parent's cottage. I hated how I couldn't see Ted during the holidays due to my parent's disapproval because Ted was a muggle born, and in my parents eye's a filthy mud blood. Ted and I had been friends for several years, after meeting in our first potions class at Hogwarts. As soon as we both graduated from Hogwarts, I planned to leave my parents house and go and live with Ted's parents (a lovely muggle couple who had welcomed me warmly on the few occasions id been to their house).

At half past eleven I made my escape. I cast a muffling charm over myself and crept through the sleeping household .Luckily, I reached the long hallway without any obstacles. Just as I cast a silencing charm on the door so I that could open it without any creaking, I heard a few soft footsteps above me. My body froze and my heart beat became frantic. If my parents or relatives caught me escaping, I would surely be punished direly and be left with even more ghastly scars. Despite this, I couldn't think of what to do. I couldn't move. The footsteps were nearing the top of the stairs now- close enough for me to hear the owner breathing. They would see me in a moment but for the life of me I couldn't think of an escape route. I saw skippered feet on the top step. They looked about the size of my fathers, but it was too dark for me to really see. Time seemed to be passing more slowly than usual, agonisingly slowly. The figure on the stairs took a few more steps and I saw that they were wearing a long dressing gown. My father always wore a long dressing gown. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut in panic, certain it was my father who was about to catch me. I had to bite down on my lip to stop me giving a startled yelp when, a few moments later, a voice close to my ear that was far to boyish to be my fathers, whispered "Dromeda, what are you doing?". I opened my eyes in flash and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was Sirius standing before me. "I'm sneaking out to see Ted, you know the Hufflepuff I told you about. Now, you'd better go back to bed quietly once I'm gone. Make sure no one hears you. Good night Sirius, I'll see you in the morning." I replied in a hushed voice. A kissed the top of his head briefly and cast the silencing charm on the door. I opened the door and stepped into the freezing night air silently, only looking back to give Sirius a little wave before closing the large door.

I breathed in the beautiful scent of fresh air and suddenly felt free. Being inside the house with my family made me feel like I had a thousand heavy chains around me that were slowly strangling, and now I was outside it felt like they had been lifted off me. I walked to the end of the road briskly so that I could apparate unnoticed. Snow was falling heaving which was making it rather difficult to see, despite the Lumos charm I had used to light my way. I shivered slightly as I walked, because I was only wearing the little black dress I had worn for our evening meal.

With a soft pop I arrived in an empty field. My landing was muffled by the thick, pure white snow on the ground. The whole field was perfectly untouched, spare for a set of footprints which led from the gate. I turned around and saw Ted standing behind me. I ran towards him with open arms and a grin upon my face. I hadn't realised just how much I had missed him until I saw him stood there, wrapped up warmly in a coat, scarf and woolly hat, a relaxed smile playing on his handsome features.

When I reached him he wrapped me in his muscular arms, resting his warm chin on top of my snowy hair. "You really don't know how much I've missed you Andy." He whispered into my curly hair, using his pet name for me affectionately. I replied by hugging him even more tightly, incapable of words to express just how much id been longing for his warm embrace. We didn't need many words to tell how each other were feeling, just the contact between our bodies was enough.

After a few blissful minutes Ted pulled away and shrugged off his warm looking duffle coat. He draped it around my bare shoulders lovingly and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side. He was wearing a ridiculous Christmas jumper which I'm certain his mother had knitted for him, with a large Christmas pudding on the front. Despite this he still managed to look handsome. He led me across the field slowly, stealing a brief kiss every few moments. Eventually we stopped in front of an old oak tree that was in the corner of the field. I looked up at Ted; slightly puzzled as to why he had led me here; but he simply shook his head and brushed a little snowflake off my rosy cheek. Ted took his wand from his pocket and conjured a large card board box. It said 'Fletcher and Hyde's Best Butterbeer, 36 bottles of beautiful goodness' on the side but when Ted bent down to open it, I saw that it was full of Christmas tree decorations. I looked between the glittering decorations and the oak tree and realised what my boyfriend had planned.

Within a few hours, the entire tree was covered in vibrant bows, glistening baubles and fluttering faeries (I'm still not entirely sure where he got the faeries from but they did look lovely). In the bottom of the Butterbeer box, I noticed one more emerald green satin bow which we hadn't managed to fit on the tree. Noticing what I was looking at Ted said "There's no space for that one on the tree, but I'm sure it would look lovely someplace else that I can think of." I was a little confused with what he meant but I trusted him enough not to question him. He stepped towards me and spun me around by the shoulders, so my back was towards him. Then, as gently as can be, he plaited my curly locks into an elegant braid that almost reached my waist. He attached the one remaining bow to the bottom of the plait and leaned close to my neck. His warm breath on my exposed skin sent shivers down my spine as he whispered "I love you Andy" to me. I replied with a simple "I love you to Ted." Before turning back around and capturing his lips wind mine. His arms wrapped tightly around my slim waist and my linked around his neck. I felt him shiver when my freezing hands made contact with his warm neck. He deepened the kiss and brought me even closer to him so that my body was pressed against his, moving his warm lips lovingly against mine.

Eventually, Ted and I had to pull away for air. He reached a hand inside his trouser pocket and pulled out a little red box with a tiny emerald bow which was exactly the same as the one in my hair, attached to the top. When he knelt down on one knee in the fluffy snow, my breath hitched in my throat. Ted opened the little box slowly to reveal a glistening diamond ring. He cleared his throat nervously. "Andy, I've loved you for a long time now, and I've realised that there really is nobody else in the world that I'd rather spend the rest of my life with. I love you more than even the greatest poet could ever put into words. Andromeda, will you marry me?" he said, grinning up at me. My eyes welled by tears, I'd never felt so loved in my life; and when I looked in to his light blue eyes I knew that the only answer was yes. "Of course Ted, of course I'll marry you." I replied. Ted stood up and took my long elegant hand in his. He placed the stunning ring on my finger delicately before kissing me tenderly. The little box with the bow fell from his hand and as his hands began to run through my locks, the emerald bow falling gracefully in to the pure snow.

The little scarlet box and the emerald bow lay on the snow, long forgotten, the next morning as the sun rose gracefully over the pure white field.

**Hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for reading! :D**


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